Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 1101 – An Agreement on Ten Years

The sky in the Garden of Zhou was lower than the sky in the real world. It was much easier to use one’s eyes to measure distance.

As Chen Changsheng fell from Sunset Valley to the ground, he could clearly see that he was rapidly getting farther away from the azure sky.

The biting cold winds hacked at his cheeks like knives, making him recall how he had been pursued by Nanke’s two wings several years ago. He had burst out of the lake and seemed about to be killed, but then a hand had come out of the night sky, grabbed his collar, and taken him far away.

Alas, Xu Yourong was not in the Garden of Zhou today, so she naturally could not grab him.

Fortunately, water grass and lakes could be found all over the ground below Sunset Valley, leaving him some hope.

A massive boom went off by his ear.

The soft surface of the lake had become incomparably firm, and messages of pain were sent from every part of his body into his brain.

At that moment, he felt like all the bones in his body were on the verge of breaking.

Countless green waves of cold lake water incessantly slapped against his face.

He once more thought about his escape through the lake water all those years ago.

Blood trickled from his lips, spreading out in the water and creating a faintly pink mist.

Several hundred fish swam out from the surrounding grass, almost madly swimming into the mist of blood, shuttling in and out of it.

After his fate was changed by the Tianhai Divine Empress, his blood was no longer that fragrant yet toxic candy, but it still presented unimaginable benefits.

Any level of being instinctively wanted to get close to his blood.

A desire to get close was at times simply greed. There was not much difference between the two.

The fish madly swimming toward the mist of blood were like some humans. In the face of enormous temptation, they simply had no intelligence to speak of.

Those who were truly mentally disabled, on the contrary, would not suffer as easily from this temptation.

In his dazed state, Chen Changsheng thought of these meaningless questions, and then he ultimately thought about Nanke.

He closed his eyes and quietly lay at the bottom of the water.

Water grass slowly waved around him, occasionally bumping against his feet.

It was like the hand of a devil probing out of the void to drag him into the bottomless abyss.

He opened his eyes.

Very little time had passed from his daze to his waking.

The surface of the lake had still not completely calmed.

Chen Changsheng raised his head to the surface of the water and began to move.

His feet moved with unimaginable speed, stirring up two dragons of water of astonishing momentum.

With a gush, a white pillar of water surged out of the lake, a waterfall in reverse.

Chen Changsheng landed on the shore of the lake, intending to charge toward a small lake to the northeast.

This small lake led to the world on the other side of the Garden of Zhou.

As long as he could reach that side and use the remnants of sword intent left by the Heaven Shrouding Sword, he could hide himself for a time.

He needed some time to ponder just what had happened, or at least to stabilize his wounds.

But he suddenly stopped and turned.

Shang Xingzhou was standing on the other side, impassively watching him.

Chen Changsheng’s face was rather pale.

He was born stainless, had undergone a perfect Purification in the Orthodox Academy, and had bathed in dragon blood under New North Bridge. Other than the Demon Lord, no one else had a tougher body than his. Coupled with that alteration at the most critical moment, he had been able to survive his fall from Sunset Valley to the ground ten-some li away.

But he had still suffered significant injuries.

His bones had not broken, but they were showing cracks, and the pain had already thoroughly penetrated down to his marrow.

Crucially, his sea of consciousness had suffered a massive shock and his Dao heart was impossible to pacify for the moment.

Most despairing of all was that he had no sword, not even a sword sheath.

This meant that he could not summon the thousands of swords within the sheath.

He had spent the last few days in the Li Palace’s stone chamber diligently practicing the sword, quietly contemplating the profound, and adjusting his body to its peak state precisely for today’s fight.

He had prepared a great deal for today’s fight.

The three swords that Su Li had passed to him, the sword intents he had experienced at Mount Li, and the sword array and sword-dividing arts of South Stream Temple had all been melded into one by him.

He was confident that in his best state, he was worthy to challenge his master in the Garden of Zhou.

But when the fight had just begun, he had lost his sword.

All his swords.

In the last few years, he had defeated so many powerful foes by relying on the sword.

He was regarded by the common people as a genius of the sword, many of them even thinking that he was already a grandmaster.

But if he didn’t have a sword, what could he do? What could he be?

The current question was this: how had Shang Xingzhou been able to snatch away all his swords just by stretching out his hand?

To Chen Changsheng, this was not a question. It was just that after all those years, he had forgotten about a few things.

Many years ago, Shang Xingzhou had cut off the Golden Dragon’s whisker and forged it into a sword which he gave to his disciple.

This was the Stainless Sword that had remained at Chen Changsheng’s side for many years.

The sword sheath had also been a precious treasure of the Li Palace: the Vault Sheath.

It was Shang Xingzhou who had taken it away and then given it to him.

Shang Xingzhou had spoken correctly.

The Stainless Sword and the Vault Sheath had both been given by him to Chen Changsheng.

Even the engagement with Xu Yourong had been given by him to Chen Changsheng.

After Yuren rejected it.

Since he had given everything to Chen Changsheng, he could naturally take it back at any time.

He had the right, and also the ability.

This was unquestionably the most formidable winning move.

Though this move seemed to have been hidden a little too deeply…

So deep that it made one’s heart go cold.

From when he received that dagger in Xining Village’s old temple until now, around ten years had passed?

Shang Xingzhou’s next words were even more chilling.

“How old are you this year?”

Chen Changsheng was his student, raised by him in Xining Village.

But he did not know Chen Changsheng’s age.

Whether it was deliberately or unintentionally, it was still a cold indifference.

Chen Changsheng replied, “No matter how old I am, I’ve passed the age of twenty.”

Shang Xingzhou cared not for the deeper meaning in these words. He said, “My talent truly is inferior to yours, so let us add ten years.”

Chen Changsheng understood what he meant. After a pause, he said, “Okay.”

Between the thirty-year-old Shang Xingzhou and the twenty-year-old Chen Changsheng, who was stronger?

Nobody would know.

Even after today’s fight, still nobody would know.

Because Chen Changsheng had no sword.

Splash!

Water gushed.

The fish had pursued the mist of blood to the surface.

The roiling water looked lively and joyful, but looking at it too long would make one feel disgusted.

Several flowers of blood bloomed on the water, the remnants of fish sinking down.

Shang Xingzhou had vanished from the opposite shore.

Chen Changsheng had also disappeared.

A footprint appeared in the water grass.

A second footprint appeared farther off.

The footprints had appeared from nowhere. There was no connection between them, making the sight extremely strange.

By the time Chen Changsheng appeared again, he was several hundred zhang away, next to a forest.

And when Shang Xingzhou appeared again, he was right in front of Chen Changsheng.

Even using the Yeshi Step, he had still not been able to surpass Shang Xingzhou’s movement techniques.

What about fists then?

A picture appeared in his sea of consciousness.

Bie Yanghong quietly gazing at him, the tip of his finger touching his brow.

Thousands of pictures followed, coming thick and fast.

Streams of light could be seen in these pictures, each of them a fist.

The pictures vanished.

Thousands of streams of light became one.

Thousands of fists became one fist.

Chen Changsheng clenched his hand into a fist and smashed at that face that was both familiar and unfamiliar.